(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a structured particulate system which is particularly useful for incorporating solid organic components into foods.
(2) Description of Related Art
The use of solid organic active components in foods and in particular in health foods is well known nowadays. Examples of active organic components that are applied herefore are e.g. folic acid, ursolic acid, phytosterols, oleanolic acid and policosanol or derivatives or salts thereof. These components are added to the food as small particles (e.g. with a size of 2 to 250 microns) or as a solution after being dissolved in a solvent. Neither of these delivery forms have been found to be satisfactory because the addition as small particles led to problems with oral mouthfeel and to problems with the bioavailability of the components, while also the homogeneity of the food product was poor due to a limited dispersability of the components in the food products. Delivery in the form of a solution in a solvent also led to problems with mouthfeel and bioavailabilty. Moreover this delivery form introduced a solvent in the food product that had to be food grade and which is not always easily available for the type of component that needs to be introduced, while the solvent also easily could affect the texture of the food product in a negative sense. Further the presence of a solvent diluted the amount of active component in the food product.
We studied whether we could find a solution for above problems and this study resulted in the finding of a new delivery form for the solid organic active components.
Therefore our invention concerns in the first instance novel structured particulate systems comprising active, organic, solid component(s) in a matrix in a weight ratio of 1:99 to 99:1, preferably 5:95 to 95:5, more preferably 15:85 to 85:15 and wherein the active, organic, solid component(s) preferably is selected from one or more of the components from the group consisting of oleanoic acid, ursolic acid, folic acid, policosanol, phytosterols, or derivatives or salts thereof and wherein the mean weight diameter of the particles of the structured particulate system ranges from 25 to 1500 microns.